Basketball Wiretap

Andre Drummond has been fined $15,000 for striking Charlotte Hornets center Roy Hibbert in the back of the head with an elbow.

The incident, for which Drummond was assessed a Flagrant Foul 2 and ejected, occurred with 4:09 remaining in the second quarter of the Pistons’ 112-89 win over the Hornets on Nov. 29 at Spectrum Center.

Steve Kerr has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for publicly criticizing referees.

“How is it that everybody on Earth can see these traveling violations except for the three people that we pay to do the job?” Kerr told KNBR. “I don’t get it. It’s bizarre. (Traveling is) a point of emphasis on one particular play and that’s when you catch and go…It’s just the one that the officials are taught to see.”

“But I can literally put together a blooper reel of plays that are embarrassing travels that are just not called. I believe it’s a case of they have so many things to look at — they are looking at defensive three seconds, the contact in the lane when people are cutting through the lane, they’re looking at the charge and block circle — they’re looking at everything except what they should be looking at which is the basic rule of the game, which is traveling. And it’s a shame because guys are getting away with murder out there and the fans see it.”